Queen Latifah Signs Multi Year Deal with BET

[Brian Damage]

A multi-year deal with Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit Entertainment and the official greenlight of original episodes of The Game highlight BET’s upfront presentation in New York tonight. Both are part of the cable network’s new push in scripted television. Under the deal with Flavor Unit, the company has come on board to produce its first scripted comedy project, Let’s Stay Together. Written and exec produced by Jacque Edmonds Cofer, the romantic comedy starring Malinda Williams and Bert Belasco has been picked up to series to launch in Q1 2011. Flavor Unit will also produce the telefilm The Cookout 2, a sequel to the feature The Cookout. The Game, created by Mara Brock Akil, is slated for Q4 2011. BET's only previous stab at launching an original scripted series was the 2008 comedy Somebodies, which ran for a season.

At its presentation, BET will also announce two new unscripted series: a dance competition series starring choreographer and principal dancer Laurieann Gibson slated for Q3 2011 and The Kennedys, about skateboarder Terry Kennedy and his family, as well as news programs and specials fronted by Ed Gordon, a slew of new music and programming specials and a partnership with Black Girls Rock, for its first-ever televised Black Girls Rock Awards.

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